Saturday was a sunny day.
The temperature in April was not hot, and the wind was soft and tender, a rare gentle moment in Beijing. Under the bright and gentle spring light, even the ragged beggars on the roadside had a sense of laziness.
He Jingwen did not sleep well the night before and jumped out of bed almost at dawn. When she stood at the school gate, the sun had just risen above the horizon.
She planned to go to the activity room first to see the layout of the venue, and then go to the school gate with several core members of the literature club to greet Mr. Night Watchman.
This process that she had rehearsed thousands of times in her mind was stuck at the first step - she was blocked in the corridor in front of the literature club's activity room. There was a sea of people in front of her. With a quick glance, she saw students wearing the uniforms of Yenching University, Tsinghua University and Sino-French University!
It’s fine for Yenching University and Sino-French University, but what are students from Tsinghua University doing in their clubs?
Then she heard a piece of news from Vice President Wang Bowen that shocked and left her speechless - these people were actually here to attend the lecture!
Who let the news slip?
He Jingwen originally planned to hold a small lecture in the activity room so that the members could communicate with the night watchman face to face. Now that so many people suddenly came, there was no room for them in the activity room! But since everyone was here, they couldn't chase them away.
So after struggling for a while, He Jingwen sighed, "It seems that we can only change the venue for the lecture." She said to Vice President Wang Bowen: "Contact the student union and see if we can borrow the school auditorium."
Before Wang Bowen could squeeze out of the corridor, several members of the Student Union squeezed out from the crowd. Leading them was the President of the Student Union, a junior student in the History Department.
The president smiled and said to her, "Junior, there are so many people here. Your activity room will definitely not be able to accommodate them. It just so happens that our school's auditorium is still empty, so why not let Mr. Night Watchman hold the lecture in the auditorium. What do you think, junior?"
He Jingwen: ...Damn, I was tricked!
So their literature club's private lecture somehow turned into a public lecture held in an auditorium. The audience came from major universities in Peking. If you didn't know, you would have thought it was a private collaboration among the major universities!
…
…
After deciding on the location for the lecture, He Jingwen looked at her watch. It was already 8:15! She and her husband had agreed to meet at the school gate at 9 o'clock.
She quickly pulled Vice President Wang Bowen and ran towards the school gate.
Time passed by in the anxious waiting. Rickshaws came one after another, and the trams came several times. Every time she looked at the people getting off the bus with expectation, but she was disappointed every time.
She had never seen the night watchman, but somehow she knew that he was not among those who got off the bus.
What should the Night's Watch look like?
Although she thought about it many times in her mind, she still couldn't put it into words.
But she just felt inexplicably that if the Night Watchman appeared, she would definitely recognize him.
When the sun had already risen above the treetops, another tram stopped at the school gate. Amid the surging crowd of people getting off the train, a young man in a light gray Zhongshan suit caught her eye unexpectedly.
Even from He Jingwen's critical eyes, the boy's appearance was outstanding. He had fair skin, phoenix eyes, a straight nose, thin lips, a clear and gentle gaze, and a slightly upturned mouth. He looked gentle, handsome, and elegant, a typical appearance of a Qing Dynasty scholar with a strong bookish air.
He walked towards her at a leisurely pace with his back straight. The light grey Mao suit he wore made him look more dignified and solemn, making people dare not tease him.
It's him!
This is the Night Watch!
He Jingwen ran up excitedly and asked confidently, "You are Mr. Night Watchman, right?"
The boy smiled and nodded, and replied in a gentle voice: "I am, are you He Jingwen, the president of the literature club?"
He Jingwen nodded excitedly and introduced the vice president to Le Jing: "This is Wang Bowen, the vice president of our literature club."
Wang Bowen blushed, and he bowed deeply to Le Jing, his voice trembling slightly: "Hello, sir!"
Le Jing was shocked by this courtesy and quickly helped him up. "You are all about the same age, so just treat each other as equals. There is no need to be so formal."
"That won't do." Wang Bowen refuted seriously: "The wisest one is the teacher. Although you are young, you are knowledgeable enough to be our teacher! Of course we have to behave like your disciples in front of you!"
Le Jing didn't expect that Wang Bowen, at such a young age, would speak and act like an old scholar. But seeing that He Jingwen, the president, seemed to agree with him, he let it go.
On the way, He Jingwen told Le Jing embarrassedly that the venue of the lecture had been changed.
When he heard that the venue was the school auditorium, Le Jing raised his eyebrows. When He Jingwen told him that the audience was the people in the auditorium, Le Jing's smile was a little forced. When He Jingwen told him that the audience were college students from various universities in Peking, Le Jing didn't know what expression to make.
To be honest, the reason why Le Jing agreed to this lecture was because He Jingwen said in a letter that this was just a small exchange meeting within the literary club, so he came. But he didn't expect that it would become a big lecture in the auditorium.
He Jingwen was also very embarrassed, and at the same time she felt a little resentful towards those who came uninvited: "Sir, just say what you want to say. If someone asks boring questions, just ignore them."
"I understand."
Le Jing sighed in his heart.
Even though it was not his intention to give a speech in the auditorium, he would not be afraid when he stood in the center of the auditorium and was stared at by countless gazes.
…
…
Fu Kemao sat nervously in the front row of the auditorium, staring at the empty podium. He knew that it would not be long before a brilliant genius would step onto the podium.
There were some whispers behind me.
"Wow, what a big deal, making so many of us wait for him!"
"The fact that the Night Watchman could write such crazy words as The Animal Realm is enough to show his arrogant character. It's not surprising that he would be so arrogant."
"Humph! He is just a ignorant brat! Wait and see how I will refute him and leave him speechless."
"Yes! Brother Kong Fang will teach him a lesson later..."
Fu Kemao's brows were knitted into knots, and he couldn't listen any more. He turned around and interrupted the topic in a cold voice: "May I ask you two brothers, is there anything wrong with what the Night Watchman wrote in "The Animal Way"?! It's not gentlemanly to criticize others behind their backs, right?"
The two stopped talking in surprise. A flat-haired boy wearing the Sino-French University uniform sneered, "From what you said, you are also a lackey of the Night Watchman?"
Another boy, also wearing the Sino-French University uniform, also sneered, "A gentleman should not listen to what is not proper. Eavesdropping on our conversation like this is not what a gentleman does, is it?"
running dog?
Eavesdropping on a conversation?
Young Master Fu was so angry that he laughed. He hadn't even lost his temper yet, but these two started to insult him! This was really intolerable!
Fu Kemao tilted his eyebrows and squinted his eyes, sneering and sneering, "Oh, in the final analysis, you are just jealous of Mr. Night Watchman! He was able to write such excellent works before he was even twenty years old, can you two do the same? People today only know the Night Watchman but not you two, and you two unknown people are qualified to criticize him? Pah!"
The two boys were so embarrassed that their faces turned red. They wanted to refute him but couldn't find the right words. At this moment, a girl walked to the center of the stage and said loudly: "Today, our Peking University Literature Society has invited the author of "The Animal Path", Mr. Night Watchman, to give us a lecture. Everyone, please welcome him with applause!"
Amidst thunderous applause, a young man in a Mao suit slowly walked to the center of the podium. Facing the thunderous applause, he bowed slightly, then smiled and waited until the applause died down before he spoke: "Hello everyone, I am the night watchman."
The applause that had just subsided threatened to overturn the entire auditorium again.
Le Jing stretched out his hand and pressed it down. Following his hint, the applause in the auditorium slowly died down.
Le Jing's eyes slowly swept across the faces of the audience with different expressions, feeling a little emotional.
"I originally thought that I was just participating in an exchange meeting within the Peking University Literature Society, but I didn't expect to end up on such a big stage, with students from all the universities in Peking as the audience. To be honest, you are nothing but cabbages in my eyes now. Only in this way can I not be so nervous that I forget the words."
As soon as these words were spoken, the audience immediately burst into laughter.
The host quickly interrupted the topic while the atmosphere was lively, "I didn't expect that Mr. Night Watchman would be stage frightened. I thought he was fearless!"
Le Jing smiled and said, "I am a human being. As long as you are human, there will be things you are afraid of, so why do you have such an impression of me?"
"It's all because of your articles, especially 'The Animal Path'. Reading this article made my scalp tingle and I broke out in cold sweats. A man who can write such a horrible article must be fearless, right?"
Le Jing understood, this directly brought the topic to his work.
He took over the topic knowingly and was about to elaborate on his creative ideas when he heard a sarcastic voice from below: "In my opinion, this is just a way to attract attention! He is deliberately going against everyone to show his originality!"
Le Jing was stunned for a moment, then smiled good-naturedly and asked, "Which classmate is talking?"
Under Fu Kemao's angry gaze, "Brother Kong Fang" behind him raised his head and stood up.
"From what this classmate said, it seems that he disagrees with my article?"
"That's right!" The flat-headed boy raised his head and said, "Your article is nothing but heresy. Anyone who agrees with it has a problem with their brain!"
Le Jing smiled and said, "Then may I ask, which parts of my article do you think are "heresies"? "
The crew-haired boy said firmly, "All of them!" He glared at Le Jing, "Our country governs the country with filial piety. Parents work hard to raise their children. It is the duty of children to be filial to their parents. But your article teaches children to hate their parents! Such perverse ideas will only corrupt the people! It will shake the foundation of our country!"
Le Jing smiled and said, "Everything you said is based on the fact that parents have worked hard to raise their children. What if parents did not work hard to raise their children? Then would the children still be filial to their parents?"
"Mothers go through the pain of pregnancy for ten months before giving birth to their children. Their children's lives are given by their parents. In the future, parents will also provide their children with food, clothing and living expenses. Isn't the time and energy they put into this a lot of hard work?"
"I know a girl whose father wanted to drown her as soon as she was born. Although she was saved by a fortune teller, her family kept her in a pigsty. She slept and lived with pigs and grew up eating pig food. Not only did she have to do all the housework since she was a child, but her parents would beat and scold her if she didn't do what they wanted." Le Jing paused, and asked the boy with a flat head with a smile amid many shocked looks, "Do you think this can be called enduring hardships? Do you think girls should also be filial to such parents?"
The crew-haired boy was stunned for a few seconds, then sneered, "You made this up! How can parents treat their children so badly? I've never heard of such a sensational thing!"
Le Jing laughed and said, "What an arrogant statement. Just because you haven't heard of something, it doesn't exist? You haven't heard of my sister, so my sister doesn't exist? You haven't heard of the history of Britain, so Britain has no history? You haven't heard that the earth is round, so the earth is square?"
The crew-haired boy was stumped by the boy's questioning. After a while, he managed to speak: "Of course I have heard of British history, and I also know that the earth is round. These are common sense! Just like parents love their children, children should also be filial to their parents. This is common sense!"
"Before Copernicus, many people also thought it was common sense that the sun revolved around the earth." Le Jing laughed and said, "Before Galileo, many people also thought it was common sense that heavy objects hit the ground first. Is the common sense you are talking about always correct?"
The boy with the flat head was speechless for a moment.
Le Jing continued, "The common sense you speak of is just what you think it is, and it doesn't represent the majority. Does it mean that as long as you think common sense is 'the sun rises in the west', the sun will rise in the west?"
The crew-cut boy blushed and said stubbornly, "You are just making up excuses!"
Le Jing sneered and said, "You are nothing more than you are the world."
I don’t know who started applauding first, “Well said!” The applause quickly spread throughout the auditorium.
"Another person who has become stupid from reading too much."
"Can such a narrow-minded person go to college?"
The boy was so angry at being ridiculed so blatantly that his cheeks turned red. He angrily left with his sleeves swung: "Summer insects cannot talk about ice, and people with different ideals cannot make plans together!"
Someone shouted, "Look! The frog is crawling into the well again!" This immediately caused a burst of laughter.
After the boy left, Le Jing's speech went on smoothly. Perhaps because the flat-headed boy had set a good example, no one dared to argue with him.
…
…
Le Jing finished his speech and just came down from the stage when he was surrounded by a group of students.
"Sir, could you please sign my copy of Memoirs of a Courtesan?
"And me, and me! Please sign for me!"
Le Jing smiled good-naturedly and said, "Don't worry, don't worry, line up and follow the order. Don't squeeze..."
During the shove, Le Jing tripped over someone and fell forward subconsciously. Almost at the same time, there was a loud "bang" and something hot quickly brushed past his ribs.
In a flash, Le Jing suddenly realized what this was!
It's a bullet!
Someone wanted to shoot him!
His body had never reacted so quickly!
He rolled and crawled away from the surging crowd, hid behind the backs of the first row of seats, and gasped for breath.
He knew the killer was hiding not far away, watching him.
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